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A Grand Day Out


Lewis

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Today myself and my mate Si (rock_on_skeeter on here) had a road trip from Staffordshire to Essex to Oxfordshire and back to Staffordshire

It all started when I decided to buy some tyres from Top90, I have a tendency to agree to buy something and then realise its too far, or too much etc

Then Si decided he wanted some tyres too so he agreed to buy some from SiWhite, ideal we thought, kill two birds with one stone and pick up both sets in one day.

Its worth noting at this point that geography is not really my strong suit, and that until today I didn’t think that Essex was far from the midlands and that Oxford was just south of Coventry, and was easily on the way to Chelmsford :rolleyes: It was only when the TomTom revealed a 175mile first leg that realisation dawned

We had borrowed an Ivor Williams box trailer from a neighbour and set off at 6am, by 10.30 we were in sunny Essex and exchanging a fat wad of twenty’s' for 5 large hoops of rubber. Thanks to Rich for a good deal and his very generous donation of a pair or Corbeau bucket seats

Back on the M25 and it became clear that something was amiss with the old TD, we were losing power and struggling to maintain 30mph uphill on the motorway :o A slight smell of diesel left us mildly concerned and we were barely one aggressive gear change away from the splines finally letting go on the mainshaft :(

3 hours later and we were still struggling towards Oxford, sat in traffic the 90 was vibrating horribly and began missing at idle, with the fuel light on we searched for a petrol station for the third tankfull, pulling out onto an island on the A34 the car finally died, thankfully spitting distance from the BP garage

The petrol station didn’t sell fuel cans so we began to think up other solutions, it seemed a bit ridiculous to call the AA for a tow 200yards to the filling pumps, just then a Discovery pulled up to offer his assistance, we borrowed tools quickly and then he towed us to the forecourt whilst SiWhite arrived

We shook hands and said our thanks to the anonymous Disco driver and then began a closer investigation; what at first had seemed to be a minor leak causing us to run out of diesel was not quite that easy, in fact the high pressure fuel line to injector 2 was haemorrhaging diesel, undoing the union revealed the cause - the pipe had completely fractured :o

Si (White) very kindly towed us to his workshop to effect repair - he donated a high pressure injector line from his own vehicle so that we could get home, some quick heating and bending and we had a leak free running engine :)

We eventually made it home at 7pm well chuffed with our purchases - over 12hours driving for Si and a hard slog operating the satnav for me :lol: well worth it

426miles, £130+ worth of diesel, 1 bottle of Coke, 2 cans of Red Bull, 6 bags of Monster Munch and 2 Toffee Crisps, all for 10 Simex

Big thanks to Rich (Top90) for the free bits, and to our anonymous Disco driver for stopping to help, but a huge thanks to Si White for going above and beyond with his kindness and generosity – top bloke ;) you all restored my faith in others

Our route for those that are interested/extremely bored

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Lewis :)

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It all started when I decided to buy some tyres from Top90, I have a tendency to agree to buy something and then realise its too far, or too much etc

God, I know that feeling..... I bought a 4 Poster Ramp from a bloke in Porsmouth and I live in Aberdeen <_<

That was a solid 24hr round trip :ph34r:

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God, I know that feeling..... I bought a 4 Poster Ramp from a bloke in Porsmouth and I live in Aberdeen <_<

That was a solid 24hr round trip :ph34r:

I have done that trip a few times my wife is from Dufftown and we live in Southampton never done both ways in one day.

I have done weak in holland and limped back with a failty trailer which took 27hrs 600miles at 45mph :huh:

I find road trips a laugh

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Lewis / Si,

Nice to meet you both yesterday and glad you left with some cool stuff! My wallet won't close anymore there's so many notes in it!

I found the whole breakdown / tow / fixing thing quite fun. It's always satisfying taking a part which doesn't fit and bodging it to make something good out of it. Besides, I think you guys needed the injector line more than I did!

Si, I'll let you know how much the new line is and we can sort out renumeration slow time.

BTW, the map of your journey was a bit out! Not sure where you went with the two red and green lines together, but the workshop is about under the second 'o' in 'Oxford'.

Have you thought about how much diesel you lost through the bad line? Those fuel figures are more like a V8!

Hope to see you both soon.

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BTW, the map of your journey was a bit out! Not sure where you went with the two red and green lines together, but the workshop is about under the second 'o' in 'Oxford'.

Told you my geography was poor - I cant even draw accruate lines on a map :lol:

Thanks again Si, the day would have been a disaster without your help ;)

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